Fare indicator and register for vehicles.



'B. SCHNEIDER.

FARE INDICATOR AND REGISTER FOR VEHICLES. APPLICATION FILED SEPT.14, 1906.

902,332. Patented 001;.27, 1908.

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FARE INDIGATOR AND REGISTER FOR VEHICLES. v

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 14,1906.

. 902,332 I Patented Oct. 27, 1908.

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BERTHOLD SCHNEIDER, OF BERLIN, GERMANY.

FARE INDICATOR AND REGISTER FOR VEHICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed September 14, 1906.

Patented Oct. 27, 1908.

Serial No. 334,657.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BERTHOLD SCHNEIDER, engineer, citizen of the German Empire, residing at Berlin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fare Indicators and Registers for Vehicles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an attachment for use in connection with vehicles provided with fare indicators wherein the registering mechanism of the fare indicator is adjusted to indicate the various fares, to cash and to unoccupied by means of a flag and not by a separate adjusting lever or key to indicate whether the vehicle is occupied or unoccupied; is designed as an improvement upon the form'of attachment set forth in Letters Patent N 0. 777,697 granted to me December 20, 1904 and the primary object thereof is to so set up the attachment with respect to the adjusting shaft of the registering mechanism that the flag is positively connected with said shaft, as well as enabling the flag to be attached to any suitable point upon the fare indicator furthermore it enables the flag to be arranged at such a point as to prevent the drivers seat from interfering with the flag when rotating it through a complete revolution, that is to say it is not necessary to profviide a special space for the movement of the 1% further object of the invention is to provide an attachment for fare indicators in a manner as hereinafter set forth and so set up the attachment with respect to the adjusting shaft of the registering mechanism as to enable the fiag to project laterally from the casing of the fare indicator so that the flag stafi is rotated by means of the flag, not around its end but around its axis. Under such circumstances the flag shaft can be dispensed with as the flag staff can be employed as a flag shaft.

Referring to the drawings which form a part of this specification :Figure 1 is a front view showing the attachment in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan view showing the flag staff projecting laterally from the casing and which is adapted to be rotated around its axis in such a manner that the adjustment is effected by its axial rotation, and Fig. 3 is a view similar to that of Fig. 1 of a modified construction, in which one end of the flag staff is keyed on a flag shaft and in which the flag staff has to be rotated through a complete revolution around this end for the purpose of adjustment.

In connection with the use of the construction in accordance with this invention, it will be ointed out that in certain countries cabs an the like are hired at different rates or fares, fare 1 for one or two ersons, fare 2 for three or four persons, and are 3 for five persons. If a passenger leaves the cab, the driver has to place the indicator or taximeter to cash in order to show the passenger what amount he has to pay, and then the driver has to adjust the indicator to indicate unoccupied so that when such indication is exposed, it will show to others that the cab can be hired. Under such conditions it necessitates the employment of means to alter the positions of the fare registers between the fares 1 to 3, because it might happen that two persons are driving and a third entering, therefore the register must be adju'sted so as to change the indication from fare 1 to fare 2 and so on.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 in detail, a denotes a bed plate carrying suitable bearings in which is journaled a register setting shaft I) having rigidly secured thereto a disk 0, a ratchet wheel (I and a bevel wheel 8. The periphery of the disk 0 is provided with recesses h, the number of which corresponds with that of the possible indications as, for instance, fares 1 to 3, cash and unoccupied, and when the adjusting shaft 1) is rotated, the said recesses h receive in the usual manner a detent f carried by a spring blade g. To prevent the apparatus from being accidentally rotated in a backward direction, as for instance from cash to unoccupied or from cash to fare, there is provided a spring actuated awl i which engages with the ratchet Wheeld: the latter being provided with teeth on a part of its eriphery. The pawl '11 rests upon the smoot 1 part of the periphery of the Wheel (1 when the apparatus is adjusted to the different rates of fare, that is to say from fare 1 to fare 3, and it is consequently possible to rotate the apparatus forwards and backwards within the range of the fares. The disk 0 is provided with a carrier k which, when the apparatus is adjusted to indicate fare, releases a bolt n which by means of a lever m suitably sets the registering mechanism which is not shown in the drawing.

The construction just set forth and described with respect to the ratchet wheel and the means for actuating the registering mech anism is well known and no claim is made therefor. The construction, however, has been briefly explained for the sake of completeness and to facilitate the understanding of the application of the attachment in accordance with this invention.

The staff Q that carries the flag is mounted in a bearing a attached to the bed plate a and is secured in a set position by means of the collars 0) fixed. to the staff One end of the staff 1 carries'a bevel wheelt which engages with a bevel wheel 8 mounted. on the adjusting shaft b.

If the flag is rotated from the position shown in. Fig. 1 forwards as viewed. from the interior of the vehicle in the direction of the arrow l (assuming the fare indicator to be fixed to the right side ofthe vehicle) the bevel wheel t willactuate the bevel wheel 8 together with the adjusting shaft 1) and the disk 0 and ratchet wheel d will thus beactuated in the direction of the arrow 3. There fore, by means of the ratchet mechanism referred to the indicationscan be adjusted both forwardly and rearwardly bymeans of the flag for the fares from 1 to 3; the apparatus, however, cannot be turned backwards from cash to fare, except by first adjusting the apparatus to unoccupied.

In the construction shown in Fig. 3, the flag staff is mounted on a special shaft 2 which carries a spur wheel g which engages with a spur wheel as keyed upon the adjusting shaft 1). In the construction shown in Fig. 3, it is therefore necessary to rotate the flag staff q around one of its ends in the direction of the arrow 2, whereby both the flag shaft 2 and the shaft 6 which is connected therewith through the spur wheels so and y are so rotated as to enable the ratchet wheel 0 to effeet the desired indications.

Owing to the modifying of the intermediate connections between the staff and shaft, the flag is positively coimected with the adjusting shaft and the flagcan be attached to any suitable place on the indicator. It may, for instance, be arranged so high that the drivers seat is not in the way thereof when the flag staff is rotated through a complete revolution, that is to say it is not necessary to provide a special space for the movement of the flag, or the'flag may be so arranged as to project laterally from the casing of the indi cator.1n such a manner that the flag staff is j rotated by means of the flag, not around its end but around its longitudinal axis as a center. Under such circumstances, moreover, the flagshaft can be dispensed with as the lag staff can be employed as the flag shaft.

I claim- 1. A fare indicator comprising a register setting shaft, a flag staff movable about an axis displaced relatively to said shaft and a gear connection between the staff and the shaft for operating the latter from the staff and allowing of the rotation of the staff through aoomplete revolution.

2. A fare indicator comprising a register setting shaft for the controlling .lnechamsm, a flag staff, a second shaft to which the flag staff is connected, and a gear connection between the last-mentioned shaft and the reg ister setting shaft, said. operative connection adapted to impart movement to the register setting shaft when the flag staff is shifted.

3. A fare indicator comprising a register setting shaft, a flag staff, a second shaft to which the flag staff is connected, and means carried by the last mentioned shaft and adapted to. engage with the register setting shaft for imparting movement to the latter when the flag staff is shifted.

a. A fare indicator comprising a register setting shaft, a flag staff adjustableabout a different. axis relatively to said shaft, and mechanism for positively connecting the flag staff with the adjusting shaft, thereby imparting movement to the latter when the flag staff is shifted.

5. A fare indicator COII11')1fSl11g a register setting shaft, a flag or signal staff rotatalile about its longitudinal axis as a center, and an operative connection between said staff and shaft for transmitting motion between them and permitting a complete revolution of the staff.

6. A fare indicator comprising a register setting shaft, a signal staff rotatable about an ZLXJS arranged in angular relatlon to said shaft, and cooperating gears fixed to said shaft and staff for transmitting motion be tween them.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

BERTHOLD SCHNEIDER.

Witnesses HENRY HAsPnR,

NOLDEMAR IIAUPT. 

